Spotify matches Apple Music with improved $15 Family plan
Looking to hold onto its dominance in the music streaming space, Spotify on Monday launched an upgraded Family plan, matching similar ones from Apple Music and Google Play.
The new Family plan covers up to six listeners with a lower flat rate, priced at $14.99 per month in the United States. It's in fact rolling out globally starting today, the one exception being Canada.
Spotify's previous Family offering -- launched in 2014 -- was far costlier, starting at $14.99 for two listeners and rising to $29.99 for a family of five. People on the older plans will be upgraded automatically, and should see costs drop if they have more than two family members.
Although Spotify is still well ahead of Apple in terms of listenership -- with over 30 million paid subscribers versus Apple's 13 million -- the company has been fortifying its service to try and hold that lead. In January, for instance, it launched streaming video on mobile. Recently it announced plans for original video content, looking to trump Apple's limited efforts in that area.
Competitive changes haven't been entirely one-sided. In May Apple matched Spotify's $4.99 student plan, and the company is rumored to be planning a major service revamp with a better interface and expanded Beats radio. Interface problems have been some of the chief complaints about Apple Music.
The new Family plan covers up to six listeners with a lower flat rate, priced at $14.99 per month in the United States. It's in fact rolling out globally starting today, the one exception being Canada.
Spotify's previous Family offering -- launched in 2014 -- was far costlier, starting at $14.99 for two listeners and rising to $29.99 for a family of five. People on the older plans will be upgraded automatically, and should see costs drop if they have more than two family members.
Although Spotify is still well ahead of Apple in terms of listenership -- with over 30 million paid subscribers versus Apple's 13 million -- the company has been fortifying its service to try and hold that lead. In January, for instance, it launched streaming video on mobile. Recently it announced plans for original video content, looking to trump Apple's limited efforts in that area.
Competitive changes haven't been entirely one-sided. In May Apple matched Spotify's $4.99 student plan, and the company is rumored to be planning a major service revamp with a better interface and expanded Beats radio. Interface problems have been some of the chief complaints about Apple Music.
Comments
(iTunes/App Store freebies were pretty subtle/low key... just a 5x7 cardboard placard with a hopper filled with cards (promotional codes). The music offerings seemed consistently lame, but there were often interesting apps.)
Has anyone been able to confirm that they are not just mostly $3 for three months specials? Or something similar?
This would be enough to get me to dump Spotify.
The $15 plan is really gonna hurt them. Seems like desperation but aren't they alright with user numbers? Why bleed more when they can charge more and not lose many customers.
idk man
Is the $15 plan hurting Apple? Do family cellular plans hurt cell service providers? Most people discount when guaranteeing a bulk purchase. Apple and Spotify are getting 50% more money for likely very limited additional service.jbdragon said:
I really hope they do. Their curated playlists are quite confusing. You try to hit a list for say a mood and instead of being able to quickly find something, you have twenty different playlists, all relatively short by my listening standards (15-20 songs) all created by a person I guess and you don't know when or if they change for whatever reason. The non-curated playlists seem to have terrible selections as well. I find myself listening to Pandora and Spotify more just because they pick more songs I want to hear.